View report page

190
In Registration London the average density of the population
for 1896 is given by the Registrar-General as 59.2 persons per
acre.
In Table B the headings of the model form require the
population of the district to be given " as estimated to the
middle of 1896." I know of no data by which an "estimate"
could be arrived at for the district of St. James's. From the
data set out above, it will be seen that the district of St. James's,
while unaltered as to its area, has continuously diminished in
population. This diminution is due to the great value of sites
in St. James's, and to the pressure caused by the growth of
splendid shops and wholesale warehouses. The development of
suburban railways and omnibuses has made St. James's less and
less a place of residence. There has been a continuous increase
in the rateable value of the property represented by the Vestry,
while there has been a continuous decrease in the number of the
actually resident population.
In calculating the death-rate of St. James's, there are special
difficulties in drawing reliable inferences. St. James's is
now largely occupied by high-class hotels and lodging-houses, in
which a floating population of wealthy and fashionable visitors
is found; while the population of servants, waiters, and other
employes in the hotels, shops, and warehouses, is also largely
floating. Many of the parishioners of St. James's reside
in country houses, or sleep in the suburbs. It is, therefore,
difficult to draw a sharp line of demarcation between those who
" belong to " St. James's and those who do not. Again, some
of those persons who are removed from St. James's and die in
outlying institutions, are only more or less casually in St. James's
when taken ill, and can scarcely be described as " belonging
thereto."
During the year 1896, the net mortality of the district of
St. James's has been 396 deaths. Taking the population as
enumerated in the census of 1896, we have 20,053 persons, with
396 deaths—a death-rate of 19.72 for each 1,000 persons sleeping
in St. James's.